Reverend Catherine Lyle has been serving Sandpoint UMC since 2022. We are a small and accepting community that strives to make others feel welcomed. Especially, those on the fringe who have struggled in the past to connect with an engaging faith community focused on doing good rather than just being perceived as good. Pastor Catherine and Rose Greene started “Messy Church” on Thursday nights and with this tool we make a fun interactive all ages safe space for kids and parents to explore their faith.

Rev. Catherine Lyle takes an ecumenical approach when spreading the good news. Attending several kinds of churches as a former child in foster care, helped her appreciate the good parts of churches and support the whole body of Christ. Initially, Rev. Catherine Lyle was baptized Catholic, she rebelled greatly from her Irish/Scottish roots and became a Methodist in her middle school years joining Cheney UMC where she served as the EWU campus minister while also sitting on the EWU Catholic Newman Center as their ecumenical chair. At 19 she graduated with her BA from Eastern Washington University followed by a fun summer studying Irish history and Literature at NUI in Galway, Ireland.

As a young adult she says she had a million questions and didn't want dogmatic answers from biased religious leaders. Subsequently, she earned an MA in philosophy from WSU where Greek philosophy and culture would later provide a broader understanding of the New Testament that was born from an occupied Greco-Roman culture. It was in these graduate years her roommate (an Episcopal priest) set her up on a blind date with Kevin James, a network engineer. Now married, they have two wonderful sons.

When not studying and being a mom, she worked in many nonprofits including the YWCA Domestic Violence Shelter, AmeriCorps, Habitat for Humanity, Shalom Ministries, and Manito UMC. It was at Manito that she found herself seeking creative ways for children to worship and share their relationship with Jesus.

She enjoys meeting new people and hearing their stories, preaching on Sundays, and teaching new ways to minister to underpaid, tired out parents and kids surrounded by unhealthy food and divisive politics to love their God, love themselves, and love their neighbors. She encourages everyone to live with hope again, the same kind of hope that our Methodist silver haired elders chose to live out following the depression and WW II. We need to be honest about our past and work together for a better future. Resetting the table together is just as important as tossing that first unjust table out of the sanctuary. “Oh, and to learn to have fun again. We need fun in our lives as Jesus did too from telling jokes, fishing trips, and that wedding in Canaan. Life is complex but I pray we all can enjoy a wholistic spiritual journey because we are worthy, we matter and our humanity matters.”

Rev. Catherine Lyle is available for scheduled appointments on most Tuesdays and Thursdays. Email Cflyle@gmail.com to set a time up and chat about what is in your heart!